a blessing or a curse?

Sometimes I view creativity as more a curse than a blessing. People who aren't creative, mundanes, we'll call them, profess admiration while never quite taking us seriously. I've decided that the disconnect between mundanes and creatives is that we think of our creative efforts as work and mundanes view creativity as a hobby. The financial world definitely thinks of us that way, if the money most of us make for our efforts is any indication.

Many mundanes also consider our success more due to talent than skill, and so they don't really respect it, rather like ugly people don't respect someone's beauty because they did little to achieve it. We creatives know different. We respect creative work for the sake of the thing, not only if it achieves accolades and reward from the outside world.

We writers view our craft as just that--a craft, which implies needful skill. Sure, some luck is required, but it's given and taken in the same measure as with anything in life. Talent and luck only take us so far. At some point we have to make the switch from hobby to work, from talent to skill, from joy to discipline.

Sometimes I just need little reminders that I made that switch a long time ago. Thanks for the emails and notes. :)

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